Maritime Consultant Cuthbert Didier has expressed concern over attacks on locals and visitors, warning that the Island is in danger of losing out.
Didier spoke amid a violent crime wave and attacks on visitors, including yacht people.
“It is rather unfortunate that we have had this crime wave in which a lot of nationals have lost their lives and I want to send condolences to those families,” he stated.
The Maritime Consultant said it was essential to target the hotspots.
Regarding the yachting sector, which bandits have been targetting, Didier singled out Soufriere and Malgretoute while calling on people in Soufriere to work with law enforcement, as attacks on visitors could negatively impact the livelihood of locals.
“We need to grapple with the problem and arrest it and make sure that all persons on this Island, whether nationals or visitors can feel safe,” he told St Lucia Times.
“There needs to be a lot more attention to this area because if we are not careful, we are going to lose our competitive edge to these violent attacks,” Didier explained.
Earlier this week, the media in Martinique reported that bandits in Saint Lucia attacked tourists and a Polish skipper aboard a French vessel on Saturday night.
According to reports, the attack took place in Soufriere.
Armed with sharp objects, the bandits relieved their victims of items, including mobile telephones, RCI.FM said.
It was one of several attacks against yacht people reported this year.
“My immediate concern is that we in Saint Lucia need to react and put a handle on this immediately,” Maritime Consultant Cuthbert Didier told St. Lucia Times.
Didier noted that Soufriere and the Soufriere Marine Management Area had been the locations of ongoing bandit attacks.
“We need to do all within our power, especially the community of Soufriere, to react and at least show the yachting community regionally and internationally that we are dealing with the issue,” he observed.
Didier. You are saying something while saying NOTHING. This is the track record of too many of our so called ‘influential people’
We will be ‘losing out’? Sorry mate – the correct analysis is that we will ‘ crash and burn’
Our economic recovery post Covid has stalled because of corruption and crime. Our economy is at 70% of what it could have been because of crime and vulgarity permeating our society.
The yachting sector you has championed is a fraction of what it could have been except for the incompetence of the authorities.
I give you that you have been a voice in the wilderness for the yachting industry and are correct on its potential but your government is incompetent and clueless and just draining our coffers in their joyriding and squandering.
So call a spade a spade and stop the inconsequential whining that is getting us nowhere fast.
As you know this is not the first incident in the past few months of crime aimed at the yachting sector. It will be worst next year with the slackness in the citizenry and the further hemorrhaging of jobs and economic activity.
This could mean the demise of yachting in St Lucia for 5 to 10 years.
So unless you are forceful enough just say NOTHING.
Oh well ! This is not the first and it won’t be the last….as a matter of fact more cruise ship passengers get rob in Soufriere than any other place in St Lucia…..and the incidents been happening for a while now. The waterfalls by the pitons is famous for that, I don’t walk thru that track without my lass because I rather go before the mid morning tourist gets there or late afternoon, that attraction is so played out. Sulphur Springs I rather go when it just open the security guard is there before the first bus load of tourists come those 5:30 /6:00 am hours are the past for my ass. All who remember the tourism conseairs that were put in place to combat this very same situation after a string of cruise passenger robberies. That was done by no other than the then tourism minister Phillip J Pierre. Who disbanded them when the UWP was grasping for a Massa to lead them out of the wilderness by putting their God to run in Soufriere Allen Michael Chastanet (fact). So it go and the saga continues his legacy and raign of terror lives on.
Then again I can’t feel Sorry because some of the most expensive real estate in St Lucia hovers above that town and just look at the state of Soufriere…..I can understand they want to have that rustic charm but it’s ,2023 and these hotels has invested NOTHING to the town. Not even a styrofoam bus shelter for the locals much less a beautification fund , a new library or upgrade adopt the hospital or add a wing it could be in their name we don’t care, donate a training center so the youths can learn something hospitality, a trade, ect, adopt the police station, adopt a school and make it state of the art, donate an ambulance to the community NOTHING they give back and now they are BITCHING ABOUT BEEN ROBBED well to that I say idle hands will find something to do youths PLAY ROBIN HOOD eventually they will get the message that they should invest, give back to the community of which they reside, stop let Sandals shaming you.
Imagine getting this information from overseas media and our own cannot get hold of this story to report it. Lots of crimes such as rape, robberies and we are getting these information reported by international media. What a shame.
I don’t believe the narrative will progress anything, it’s just another article that fill up space. We all know the consequences of crime and it effects within the parameters of social, recreational and economical. The core issues being neglected for many decades and I guess we need to pay careful attention to the song.. little black boy.
How can crime stop when over 80 percent of private sector workers earn 2 to 3 EC dollars an hour
There is going to be a concerted effort by the authorities to damper reports of criminal activity in St Lucia .
That is one of the tactics coming out of the SLP administration. If you do not hear that it happened, it did not happen!
They are not doing this to combat crime but to protect themselves from negative feedback. All about ‘protecting the Victory’
This is another damning indication of their lack of planning, foresight or capacity. They literally are the equivalent of a giraffe trying to climb a tree. Will never happen!
The analysis of tourisn for 2023 is that we will NOT get back to pre pandemic levels until 2024 and maybe 2025. And that is an optimistic assessment given the hot spots in the world today.
Ukraine could spiral out of control after winter. China is having massive problems with Covid after lifting curbs on top of the housing investment crisis.
Europe is a powder keg that could explode in Summer 2023 because of food inflation, strikes, etc.
If we got our house in order we COULD ride out this tough time but with the clown show of hillaire pierre king and fredericks and their hacks we have a huge mountain to climb in the next 36 months.
The yachting community are already avoiding St Lucia after several attacks. The article is laughable in trying to play down the latest incident. It has been widely reported outside St Lucia. Six men armed with cutlasses boarded a charter catamaran and held the blades to the throats of the tourists whilst they robbed them. These incidents have gone around the boating social media like wildfire. Do you think tourists will come when they hear that? The boating visitors spend a lot of money on the island. Interesting comment above that seems to imply that tourists deserve to be robbed because rich residents don’t invest on the island. That sort of attitude seems to pervade the mindset of the authorities too. Biting off the hand that feeds? I love St Lucia and it’s people and fear that a downward spiral of crime is well underway. Look at Haiti and see where that can end.
The similarities between Haiti and St Lucia is becoming more evident …1 . An incapable government . 2.An illiterate people 3. Xenophobic Society 4. Corrupt Politicians 5. Armed angry young men and gangs 6. Disintegrating infrastructure to say the least …. I will never go back there as I fear for my life and the lives of my children there .
Well any robbers that come to rob a yatch or whatever just get rid of them . with enough bad men caught down, the enterprise cant flourish. but the problem is we cant solve crime if those heading organisations, politics , government are corrupt criminals themselves. this is what happened in jamaica and it killed that country. st lucia is now firmly in that camp.
Many years ago, managers were encouraged to remove their ties and walk their areas of responsibility. Get a feel of what’s happening on the ground in order to be more efficient. Evidently this has ceased in certain areas.
No way is anyone paying attention to Soufriere…a revenue generator. I am there at least once a week. Vagrants lying on the ground mid morning. Aggressive beggars who will not listen to the word no. Psst! It’s not rustic, it’s screwed up. What about those harassing kids by the dock? If anyone was watching YouTube and reading those boaters blogs, they would have an idea it’s not cool.
Please, stop taking your customers for granted, because someone else always wants them. Pay attention to Soufriere because visitors are not bound to visit St. Lucia. Didier is among the few sane people around. He is proactive and understands urgency.
I agree with Poule Foo’s comments, I have to add that Marigot bay beach is exactly the same as Soufriere, the place is a no go area, over run by unemployed aggressive guys fighting, dealing drugs and harrassing those brave tourists that do attempt to visit. The tourists soon disappear, authorities have had incidents reported to them and nothing happens, they too, do not go there, its too much trouble and the police station is 2 minutes away. The place is a filthy cesspit and yet, like Soufriere it is a place that attracts tourists. But they are now not coming and things are getting worse, we are surely on a downward spiral. It makes we so sad.